May 4, 2010

Last week was really hard for me. We had parties everyday from Monday all the way to "My Best Friend's Daughter's Wedding" on Saturday. 50 - 55 hours is normal for a full time chef.

From the second week of January, most of our new staff (2 - 15 months) stared to leave, some of them left us to different places that needed the Grass's staff to bring their restaurant to the "next level".. yes, this was their actual words that they told me.

Good for them! Every cook wants to be a chef, every young chef wants to have their own restaurant. They want to show the world this is what they have, some of them very good, but 98% of them are not ready.

Of course I'm training a new batch of staff again. They are more willing to listen and learn than the ones I had before. They make mistakes like everybody does but they are making a lot less of them!

We are using them for fabrication on the line service. Now all we need from them is speed and precision. They will be good in less than two weeks.

Since we are talking about the kitchen today, may I clarify what I mean about my Number 1 guy in the kitchen...

Number 1 in the Grass's kitchen is the guy that takes the position as the saute man. He can read and manage the tickets wisely, most likely running the Grass's entree line which is the most expensive line but not the hardest line to run. You must be a good line cook to be successful. You will work along with one other cook, two on a busy night.

Some restaurants may call him the line chef which is okay by me, but I'd like to make it clear this position is not the Grass's Chef.

Chef is not just a title. A chef has to know how to manage his kitchen - labor, food cost, marketing (which comes with hundreds of things to learn), and it requires their whole heart and soul.